John Cena has explained why the United Championship Open Challenge means so much to him.
Seen throughout 2015, the 5-time United States Champion would put the title on the line each week and saw future stars such as Sami Zayn, Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens answer the call each week on WWE Raw in an attempt to dethrone the 16-time World Champion. Always looking to the future, Cena has described why it meant so much to him and looked back on his memorable debut where he answered an open challenge issued by Kurt Angle.
While appearing on WWE Break It Down to discuss his most important matches, Cena described how it was designed to show the main roster audience what the under-utilised stars of Raw and the stars of NXT could do, in particular, his rivalry with Owens:
So the theme of the US Open challenge for me was for the performers to showcase what they could do. And I wanted to make it a little commercial for the person challenging me because if you were to answer an open challenge, that’s kind of how I got my start. So I wanted to give the same opportunity The back. And I think this was no different.
This was although Kevin had great success in NXT. This was a chance for him to show what he could do as a performer. And on a high-level stage. He can do great things. He has such a library of athletic things that he can do. He very much brought the best out of me in that respect. And I thought this was a really cool moment. The audience was kind of wanting something new.
And even me with the United States Championship is still Oh, they’re they’re still investing in this guy. Will someone new knock him off? You kind of don’t know what to expect on your first impression. I think all of those things together. It was the right person to do it at the right moment in time to do it.
How Did John Cena’s US Title Run In 2015 End?
Cena has two separate reigns with the championship in 2015. The first reign began when the 16-time World Champion defeated Rusev at WrestleMania 31, starting the series of defences each Monday. The first reign would come to an end at SummerSlam 2015 when Cena lost to then WWE Champion Seth Rollins in a winner-takes-all match thanks in part to interference from Jon Stewart.
Cena would win the title back from Rollins later that year at Night of Champions before ultimately losing the title once again at Hell in a Cell later in the year. Issuing an open challenge at the show, a returning Alberto Del Rio shockingly defeated Cena to bring the weekly open challenge to an end.
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